A cubic yard is a 3 × 3 × 3 ft cube — 27 cubic feet — and covers 108 square feet at 3 inches deep. Multiply length × width × depth in feet and divide by 27: a 12 × 12 ft patio base at 3 inches needs 1.33 cubic yards, about 2 tons of crushed stone.
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Cubic Yard Calculator Guide
The cubic yard is the native currency of bulk material — quarries price in it, dump trucks are sized around it, and every landscape quote you’ll ever receive speaks it. Yet almost nobody has an intuitive feel for how big one actually is. A cubic yard is a cube measuring 3 feet on every side: 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 cubic feet. Dumped on a driveway, it makes a pile about 5 feet across and knee-to-thigh high. Moving it by hand means roughly 14 trips with a typical 2 ft³ wheelbarrow — call it an honest hour of shoveling.
The formula is short: length × width × depth, all in feet, divided by 27. The depth is where projects go wrong, because it’s measured in inches — divide it by 12 before multiplying. A 20 × 15 ft parking pad at 4 inches deep is 20 × 15 × 0.333 = 100 ft³, which is 3.7 cubic yards.
How Far Does One Cubic Yard Go?
| Depth | Coverage per yd³ | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 1 in | 324 sq ft | Top-dressing existing gravel |
| 2 in | 162 sq ft | Decorative ground cover |
| 3 in | 108 sq ft | Landscape beds, path surface |
| 4 in | 81 sq ft | Driveway base lift, slab base |
| 6 in | 54 sq ft | Heavy-duty base, French drain |
| 12 in | 27 sq ft | Deep fill, retaining-wall backfill |
The shortcut hiding in that table: divide 324 by your depth in inches and you get the square footage a single yard covers at that depth. It works for any material, because coverage is pure geometry — weight is where materials diverge. One yard weighs about 3,000 lb as crushed stone, 2,800 lb as gravel, 2,200 lb as topsoil, and just 800 lb as mulch.
Ordering and Hauling by the Yard
- Your pickup fits a yard by volume, not by weight. A full-size bed physically holds a yard of stone, but at 3,000 lb it’s double most half-ton payload ratings. Haul stone a half yard at a time, or let the quarry’s truck take the strain.
- Delivery minimums favor consolidation. Many yards charge the same delivery fee for 1 yard as for 10. If a second project is on the horizon, ordering together can effectively make the extra material half price.
- A tandem truck carries 9–10 yards of stone. That’s the 13–15 ton legal payload; larger orders arrive as multiple trips, so plan the dump spot for repeat access.
- Round up to the half yard. Loader operators work in half-bucket increments anyway, and being a wheelbarrow short at the end costs a second trip.
Once you know your yards, converting to a purchase weight takes one more step — the cubic yards to tons calculator applies the right density for any material. And if your starting point is an area on a plan rather than a measured hole, the square feet to tons calculator goes straight from footprint to order size.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big is a cubic yard, really?
Picture a cube one yard on each side — 3 feet wide, 3 feet long, 3 feet tall. It holds 27 cubic feet, fills about 14 loads in a typical 2 ft³ wheelbarrow, and makes a knee-high pile roughly 5 feet across when dumped.
How much does a cubic yard weigh?
It depends entirely on the material: about 3,000 lb for crushed stone, 2,800 lb for gravel, 2,200 lb for topsoil, and only 800 lb for mulch. Pick your material in the calculator and it applies the right density automatically.
Will a cubic yard fit in my pickup truck?
It fits by volume but usually not by weight. A full-size bed holds a yard of stone physically, but 3,000 lb exceeds most half-ton pickup payloads — stone haulers should carry a half yard per trip, while a yard of mulch is no problem.
How many square feet does a cubic yard cover?
At 3 inches deep, 108 square feet; at 2 inches, 162; at 4 inches, 81. Divide 324 by your depth in inches for the coverage of any single yard.